Pep Guardiola, the Barcelona manager, appeared to concede defeat on Monday in
his pursuit of Cesc Fabregas by admitting that Arsène Wenger will not sell
any of his best players.

Barcelona had two bids turned down last summer for Fabregas and, while Samir Nasri and Jack Wilshere have also impressed Guardiola this season, there is an acceptance that Wenger will not allow the break-up of his team.

Wenger's entire policy is dependent on keeping his young squad together for when they enter the peak years of their careers and, in keeping with that strategy, most of the key players have been persuaded to sign long-term contracts.

Significantly, both Fabregas and Wilshere are on contracts until 2015, meaning Arsenal would be under no real financial pressure to sell until 2013 or even 2014.

"He [Wilshere] is a great player – a great player for Arsenal," said Guardiola. "And, in any case, Arsène Wenger doesn't sell his best players. Arsenal are a great side with a great coach."

Wenger has described the current Arsenal squad as the strongest in his 15 years at the club and will continue an extensive rotation policy as the players face further fixture congestion following Sunday's 1-1 draw against Leyton Orient in the FA Cup.

Arsenal had nine matches in January and will play eight times in February – part of which will be a run of four games in four competitions over just 10 days.

Wenger's team have already played more matches than any of their rivals this season and, should they get close to a unique 'quadruple', they could finish the season having played 66 times, 12 more than Chelsea or Tottenham.

The extra matches are a result of Arsenal being the only club still in all four major competitions, but also their failure – twice – in the FA Cup to get past lower league opposition without a replay.

The Football Association is to consult on the idea of scrapping FA Cup replays as part of various suggestions to reinvigorate the competition but, perhaps surprisingly, Wenger is opposed to that change. He believes that the inconvenience of extra matches for his team is outweighed by the financial benefits of a replay for clubs such as Leyton Orient.

"It makes their budget for the season, if not maybe more," said Wenger. "To scrub that off would be a blow to smaller clubs in England and they suffer already. So you would not get too much support to do that."

Wenger, though, did outline his frustration at having to prepare for a replay next Wednesday during what could have been only the second time this year that his players were clear of midweek matches.

"The most negative side of our result on Sunday is that there is one more fixture, and in fairness that's not what we needed," said Wenger.

"Sometimes, mentally, a breather would be nice. Since December we have been playing every three days.

"The other thing is that we have had problems against the teams from the lower divisions to finish them off. We had that problem against Huddersfield, Leeds and Ipswich. We play a lot and give a lot."